China criticises Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh

China has renamed some places in what India regards as its eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of its territory

As Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday sent out a strong message to China from a border village in Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing fumed and alleged that India had violated the territorial sovereignty of China.

Also Read — India rejects China's latest renaming bid to assert claim over Arunachal Pradesh

“Zangnan (as Arunachal Pradesh is known as Mandarin) is part of the territory of China,” Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the communist party’s government, said in Beijing. “The activity of the senior Indian official in Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he told journalists replying to a query during a routine news conference. “We are firmly against this.”

Beijing claims about 90,000 sq km of areas in Arunachal Pradesh of India to be a part of the territory of China and calls it Zangnan or south Tibet.

Beijing recently renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Mandarin and Tibetan, just as it had earlier done with six places in the frontier state of India in April 2017 and 15 more places in December 2021. The move is intended to buttress China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh.

Shah on Monday said in Kibhitu that no one could dare to cast an evil eye on the territorial integrity of India and encroach even an "inch of our land."